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Phantom Limb
Phantom Limb (real name: Hamilton G. Fantomas) is a supervillain with invisible "electro-impalbable" arms and legs on The Venture Bros. Character History Background Phantom Limb was born Hamilton G. Fantomas. He came from a long line of adventurers like his grandfather, Fantômas, who among others such as Lloyd Venture, Eugen Sandow, Oscar Wilde, Aleister Crowley, and Mark Twain, were members of The Guild, the group that would devolve into the Guild of Calamitous Intent. However, Hamilton was disinherited by his family because of a congenital disorder that left him with severely underdeveloped arms and legs. He was a professor at State University, where he taught a class full of students who were disabled and/or deformed, and spent his spare time building the "Limb Augmentation Apparatus", a machine meant to transform his limbs to normal proportions. It is also hinted that he was a recruiter for The Guild of Calamitous Intent prior to the accident that gave him his powers.''The Invisible Hand of Fate'' He was suspected by the OSI of his ties to the Guild, prompting them to send Billy Quizboy to spy on Hamilton as his student. Hamilton made Billy his lab assistant, thinking he possessed a brilliant mind. During an experiment to turn his limbs to normal size, a malfunction occurred which turned Fantomas' limbs not only to normal size, but also invisible, and endowed him with the ability to kill with a mere touch. This accident was the impetus that drove him to become a supervillain and take the name "Phantom Limb."''Hate Floats'' As a Guild supervillain, Phantom Limb rose to a position of great authority; although little has been revealed about the Guild's command structure, he was shown to be subordinate only to The Sovereign - the supreme leader of the Guild - and The Council of Thirteen, a governing body within the Guild which conducts trials of members that commit infractions. He was served by a small army of henchmen called Shadowmen, and convinced Dr. Girlfriend, his romantic interest at the time (then answering only to her birthname, Sheila), to become a supervillain, and eventually his own second-in-command under the name "Queen Etheria." His relationship with Dr. Girlfriend would later end with Dr. Girlfriend leaving him for The Monarch, resulting in a lifelong enmity between the Monarch and Phantom Limb. Rebellion Against the Guild Dr. Girlfriend would once again become Queen Etheria after leaving the Monarch, whereupon Phantom Limb had the Monarch framed for the murder of a policeman, getting him sent to prison. When the Monarch escaped from prison and convinced Dr. Girlfriend to marry him, Phantom Limb, against the orders of the Sovereign, brought to bear his full authority as a Guild official, deploying an armada of Guild gunships to assault the Monarch and his henchmen during the wedding, resulting in his own defeat. Although he escaped, he was badly wounded, losing several body parts when his command ship crashed (his left arm and right leg). Some believe that his penis was also found by The Alchemist, however, it's his arm that he picks up. It is later revealed that this attack on the Monarch was part of a larger plan to assassinate the Sovereign and claim his office. The Revenge Society After the battle, and caused by the trauma of losing several limbs, Phantom Limb becomes apparently insane, forming a "team" consisting of Wisdom (a coffee cup), Chuck (a toaster), and Lady Nightshade (Dr. Mrs. the Monarch's black Ferragamo shoe) in which he dubs the Revenge Society, and calls himself "Revenge." He infiltrates the headquarters of the Guild and kidnaps two members of The Council of Thirteen, Red Mantle and Dragoon, whom he blackmails into helping him obtain the Orb, an awe-inspiring artifact of unspecified function, the protection of which was revealed to be the basis for the founding of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, and once again attempts to claim the leadership of the Guild. However, Phantom Limb failed to activate the Orb as it was sabotaged long ago by Eugen Sandow, and resulting in his capture. Following this, Phantom Limb escaped from Guild imprisonment utilizing his inanimate object commando team and his two remaining limbs. After escaping, Limb sought the aid of Richard Impossible. Together the two went to State College, Phantom Limb hiding in Richard's body, stealing the plans for Limb's original muscle growth machine. Replicating the technology with Impossible, Limb has restored all four of his appendages and built up a new 'Revenge Society' with Impossible, Baron Werner Ünderbheit, and a selection of super-villains that the three chose.''Pomp and Circuitry''''Bright Lights, Dean City'' Under the tutelage of Dr. Henry Killinger, the Revenge Society mount a heist on the newly open Gargantua-2 casino. Unknown to his compatriots, Phantom Limb made a deal with the Sovereign to regain his membership in the Guild in exchange for killing The Investors by blowing up Garguantua-2 along with the Revenge Society; in which Phantom Limb was reluctant to accomplish. As Phantom Limb was prepare to sabotage the space station, The Investors suddenly appeared before him and revealing that they know of the Sovereign's plot before they themselves cause the station's meltdown. Phantom Limb's secret deal with the Sovereign was eventually reveal before the Revenge Society and causing the group to splinter. Phantom Limb escaped Garguantua-2's destruction through Fat Chance's portal and arrive in Meteor Majeure. The aftermath left with the Sovereign, Investors, and much of the Council of Thirteen dead. However, Phantom Limb was given a sense of redemption in which Killinger appointed him as a member of the newly reconstituted Council of Thirteen. As Council Member Following the events of the Gargantua-2, Phantom Limb and his colleagues are attempting to restore the Guild. When the Guild is threatened by a vigilante taking up the guise of The Blue Morpho, Phantom Limb knows it can't be the original due to him being dead for years but states they will watch out for this new hero. When Dr. Mrs. The Monarch informed the Council that she believes Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture is the vigilante, but Phantom Limb does not believe her and assumes she's just stressed. When The Doom Factory are killed by The Blue Morpho, Phantom Limb contacts Dr. Mrs. The Monarch to apologize and ask what her plan is to eliminate this now growing problem. He and the rest of the Council soon learn Venture is not the vigilante and decide to form a pact with the OSI for help. The plan was to have Venture's latest enemy Red Death attack a fake Venture family (consisting of GUILD and OSI) so they can draw out the vigilante. However, their actions are for naught as Blue Morpho does not appear. Ultimately, the original Blue Morpho later resurfaces and is slain by entirely unrelated circumstances. Revealed to be Vendata, this Blue Morpho receives all of the blame for the Guild villain killings. With the Blue Morpho crisis resolved, Phantom Limb and the rest of the Council turn to other matters. Phantom Limb and a few other Guild representatives meet with OSI representatives at the Treaty of Tolerance Summit II to renew the Treaty of Tolerance. After Shore Leave insults Phantom Limb's grandfather, the two do battle under the tradition of the Pool Fight, to which Phantom Limb receives a dislocated shoulder. Ultimately, treaty negotiations breakdown into petty bickering, and it is Dr. Thaddeus Venture of all people that shames the arguers and gets the discussion back on track. Ultimately, the treaty is resigned, although a mole within the Guild is discovered: Guild Stranger S-464, an agent of The Peril Partnership. At Vincenzo's an agent of The Peril Partnership, Blind Rage, shows up to negotiate terms with the Guild. The Guild Council, including Phantom Limb, agree to resume paying the Partnership kickbacks to stay out of Guild territory (though this deal is secretly short-circuited by Red Death). Following the decision to pay off the Partnership, the Guild Council decides to reestablish itself as the ruling body of the Guild in light of its inability to find members to fill its missing seats. However, to remain on the Council, every Council member must give up their individual enemies and retire from active individual supervillainy. However, before said retirement, every member is given one last assignment to arch an old enemy. Phantom Limb faces Hunter Gathers. To resolve their longstanding hatred, the pair get into a literal penis-measuring contest. At the next Guild Council meeting, Phantom Limb claims he beat Gathers by over a full inch. Personality Phantom Limb is cold, calculating, intelligent and ruthless. He is egocentric and pretentious, which is perhaps his greatest weakness - he seems unaware of how he sometimes offends others, and is prone to underestimating them. This weakness later seemed to ebb in Pomp and Circuitry, in which he attempted to altruistically drag his boyhood friend, Richard Impossible, out of depression - though Any Which Way But Zeus demonstrates he is still domineering towards the man. Limb is still cordially polite to strangers - he states that his dismissal of Dr. Venture as a "Level One Threat" is not meant to cause offense. His outlook towards others often depends on a measure of respect - he has twice chosen not to kill Brock Samson after being impressed with the man's lethal abilities, even teaming up with him once in order to help rescue their mutual loved ones. He is shown to have respect for those of a higher status, up to a certain point - when a rich customer refused to buy any stolen painting other than the Mona Lisa, he killed the man out of frustration, and when David Bowie/The Sovereign attempted to block him from taking revenge on the Monarch, he attempted to assassinate Bowie and take over. When Brock - who he had teamed up with - insulted Dr. Girlfriend, he tranquilized him coldly, explaining to the witnesses "What? I'm a super-villain". Limb's relationship with Doctor Girlfriend was similarly emotionally abusive - though he obviously holds her in deep affection, he was too controlling and not empathetic enough for their relationship to last too long, and his fascination with her body bordered upon perversion - it is implied that he masturbated over her 'Queen Etheria' costume when she first left him, and while in his crazed 'Revenge' persona he stole one of her shoes and fantasized that it was his lover. Following his time as 'Revenge' and his escape from the Guild, Phantom Limb's personality is marginally less insane, and he has reversed his opinions on super-villainous plots; whereas before he was satisfied with low-grade crimes such as art theft, the episode Bright Lights, Dean City begins with him presenting a grandiose vendetta against the Revenge Society's old enemies, hero and villain alike. Following Phantom Limb's restoration of Guild membership and joining the Council of 13, Phantom Limb seems to have resumed much of his old bureaucratic and pretentious demeanor. He shows a pragmatic willingness to quickly sweep potential Guild destabilizing matters under the rug, whether that means putting the blame for the Blue Morpho killings on random homeless people or surrendering kickbacks to the Peril Partnership to avoid Guild territory. Powers and abilities Phantom Limb's arms and legs are completely invisible. He possesses the ability to kill or incapacitate others through physical contact. When he uses this power, the blood vessels and bones in his arms flash with red and green light and the sound of electric arcing is heard. In the episode The Trial of the Monarch, he kills a bailiff by taking hold of a gun the bailiff points at him - it is not made clear how many degrees of separation are required to deter its use. This power also enables him to deflect certain projectiles, although he is not super-humanly agile. He has complete control over his ability to kill by contact, allowing him to touch people without killing them. In the episode Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II), David Bowie was shown to be immune to this effect, presumably due to his non-human or superhuman nature. In The Revenge Society, this power was shown to disable robots. In Pomp and Circuitry, his limbs were shown to be fully artificial and replaceable, and able to obey his commands when not attached to his body after he focused his will upon them - not unlike the artificial appendages of Marvel Comics' supervillain, Doctor Octopus. In Any Which Way But Zeus, he revealed that they are strong enough to repel surgical needles - and, upon his receipt of a power-dampening device in his bloodstream, they became visibly translucent. In ''All This and Gargantua-2'', Phantom Limb is able to able to extend his arms to disable robots at a distance. As a high-ranking member of the Guild, Phantom Limb had full access to much of its manpower and resources, although he was subject to the authority of his superior officers. As such, he could usually order a person's death on a whim. His influence within the Guild enabled him to convince The Sovereign's bodyguards, Klaus Nomi and Iggy Pop, to join his coup d'état against The Sovereign. Relationships With Other Characters Dr. Girlfriend Dr. Girlfriend was Phantom Limb's student back when he was a professor at State University, and was the one who originally inspired her to become a villain. When her "Lady Au Pair" personae wasn't working out Phantom Limb hired her as his number two, Queen Etheria. However all she did was "stand around in this skimpy outfit". When Dr. Girlfriend left him for the Monarch, they stayed pretty distant until their break up in ''Trial of the Monarch'' where she went to his house, and they got back together, however even then she seemed to generally dislike being around him. Dr. Girlfriend and the Monarch get back together in ''I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills'' and have their wedding in ''Showdown at Cremation Creek Part I''. Phantom Limb goes above the Guild and crashes the wedding, kidnapping Dr. Girlfriend. He is later arrested for this, and Dr. Girlfriend and the Monarch are officially wed in ''Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny''. In ''Bright Lights, Dean City'' Phantom Limb's plan involved killing her, but this plan was turned down for being "too kill-y". In season 6, it appears Phantom Limb has given up on his feelings for her as he is now able to work with her, now that they are both members of The Council of 13. The Monarch Ever since the Monarch stole his girlfriend Phantom Limb disliked him; initially the Monarch used to be one of his henchman (along with 24) and even then Phantom Limb did not seem to treat him with respect. This may the reason (besides the hate for Dr. Venture) which motivated the Monarch to become his own villain. However, Phantom Limb did not show any hints of trying to get revenge on him (probably because outside of sexual attraction he doesn't really have any feelings for Dr. Girlfriend), but he does see him as a threat to his reformed relationship as in ''The Trial of the Monarch'', he had the Monarch sent to prison for life and despite his attempts to keep him there the Monarch soon escaped. They did not see each until [[Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part I)|''Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part I)]] when he tried to ruin the Monarch's wedding and kidnap Dr. Girlfriend, he was later arrested for this and he wanted to kill him. However he planned to get revenge on Dr. Venture instead of the Monarch because Dr. Venture was the one who helped him to get back his bride. In the Season 6 special [[All This and Gargantua-2|''All This and Gargantua-2]], Phantom Limb and The Revenge Society stayed at The Monarch's childhood home before The Monarch, his wife, and Henchman 21 moved back in. The Monarch soon became aware that Phantom Limb was staying over after seeing a cooking knife that matched Phantom Limb's tastes. He accurately deduced Phantom Limb's plan and became determined to capture him to achieve a spot on the The Council of 13 but that was soon forgotten. In Season 6, while Phantom Limb seems to be over his attraction to Dr. Mrs. The Monarch and has let go of his hatred towards The Monarch, the latter still holds disdain for Phantom Limb for his previous actions. During Season 7, Phantom Limb approves of The Monarch seemingly defeating the The Blue Morpho, unaware of their familial connection. Professor Impossible In the past, both Phantom Limb and Richard Impossible were members of Dr. Jonas Venture's Boys Brigade. Phantom Limb even went to the latter for help when he was being pursued by The Sovereign. With his help Limb regained control of his powers and Richard joined him in creating the second version of The Revenge Society. Phantom Limb was also impressed when it was revealed that Richard used his former brother-in-law to power his company. The Revenge Society After Phantom Limb was kicked out of the Guild he started his own group, The Revenge Society. At first the only other members were a coffee cup, a shoe, and a toaster. He also kidnapped Billy Quizboy, Councilman 8, and Councilman 3 who became forced members. Later he was arrested by The Guild, but managed to break out. After this Professor Impossible and Baron Ünderbheit both become members.''Pomp and Circuitry'' In ''Bright Lights, Dean City'' they auditioned new members and decided on Fat Chance, Lady-Hawk Johnson, and Lyndon-Bee. They planned to take revenge on everyone who wronged them in the past, though most of these plots never came to fruition. Phantom Limb initially resented Dr. Henry Killinger's intrusion into The Revenge Society and his plot to rob Gargantua-2, though after Killinger restated his intention not to supplant Phantom Limb he got on board. Ultimately Phantom Limb, along with Radical Left, abandoned The Revenge Society to join the newly reformed Council of 13 following the destruction of Gargantua-2.''All This and Gargantua-2'' Hunter Gathers Phantom Limb and Hunter Gathers are apparently old enemies, and this animosity seems to go beyond the professional into the personal, as demonstrated with Phantom Limb's final arching with Gathers as a literal penis-measuring competition. This enmity may contribute to breakdowns on the rare occasions the Guild and OSI have cooperated on joint missions. Still, Phantom Limb's rivalry with Gathers does not seem to be entirely hateful, as Phantom Limb had Gathers' phone number on hand to negotiate their final arching and discussed the reasons behind his final arching in a semi-friendly manner with Gathers. Episode Appearances Season 1 *''Home Insecurity'' *''Tag Sale - You're it!'' *''The Trial of the Monarch'' Season 2 *''Hate Floats'' *[[Victor. Echo. November.|''Victor. Echo. November.]] *[[Showdown at Cremation Creek Part I|''Showdown at Cremation Creek Part I]] *''Showdown at Cremation Creek Part II'' Season 3 *''Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny'' *''The Invisible Hand of Fate'' Season 4 *''The Revenge Society'' *''Pomp and Circuitry'' *''Any Which Way But Zeus'' *''Bright Lights, Dean City'' Season 5 * ''Bot Seeks Bot'' Season 6 *''All This and Gargantua-2'' *''Hostile Makeover'' *''Maybe No Go'' *''Faking Miracles'' *''Rapacity in Blue'' *[[Tanks for Nuthin'|''Tanks for Nuthin']] *[[It Happening One Night|''It Happening One Night]] *''A Party for Tarzan'' *''Red Means Stop'' Season 7 * ''The Rorqual Affair'' * ''Arrears in Science'' * ''The Inamorata Consequence'' * The Terminus Mandate * ''The Saphrax Protocol'' Christmas Songs *Venture Aid 2006 Trivia *He is a parody of articulate and "gentlemanly" supervillains, such as Magneto and Doctor Doom. *His code name is a reference to phantom limb syndrome, while his true name is a reference to the French supervillain Fantômas created by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre,[http://jacksonpublick.livejournal.com/22251.html?thread=2418667#t2418667 Publick Nuisance - The Invisible Hand of Fate] as well as the science fiction detective Gil Hamilton. His costume also bears a strong resemblance to that of the Lee Falk comic strip hero, The Phantom. *His physical disability as a child is seen in passing in the episode [[Now Museum-Now You Don't|''Now Museum-Now You Don't!]] where a drunken Professor Impossible looks at a picture of the Boys Brigade. The young, deformed Phantom Limb is seen sitting in a wheelchair. *Was pictured with Dr. Girlfriend in the tell-all biography ''The Flight of The Monarch.The Trial of the Monarch *Prizes Wüsthof cutlery and insists that serrated knives are made exclusively for bread.''Hate Floats'' Gallery shot0397.jpg shot0267.jpg Picture 114235.png BBP09101EElg.jpg|Phantom Limb Action Figure Phantom Limb.png|On the Animosity Coalition Limb_IncogNeato.jpg|Incognito The Invisible Hand of Fate - Science Dept.png References Category:Television supervillains Category:The Venture Bros. characters Category:Characters Category:Villains Category:Voiced By James Urbaniak Category:Male Characters Category:Council of 13 Category:The Guild of Calamitous Intent Category:Fictional scientists Category:Fictional amputees Category:The Revenge Society Category:Scientists Category:Former Inhabitants of Malice